Serial blasts at Coimbatore are a sequel to the communal flare-up in the city two months ago. The incident witnessed targetted police action against Muslims following the stabbing of a traffic police constable by the Al Umma activists. A mob, instigated by the uniformed men, went on a rampage even after the Umma had turned in the three activists responsible for the murderous assault.

Encounters with the Al Umma activists in Kottaimedu ... conjure up the assertion of community. identity. Interestingly, if the Umma has secured immunity from the law through terror, the Hindu Munani activists have police patronage.

Locals say Kottaimedu is a dangerous area, where only the Umma writ runs. They also point out that even the police does not enter the area. In December, when the police had to hand over the bodies of its firing victims to the Umma, it did not enter the locality, depositing them at the police picket outside Kottaimedu.

 Until the police action, the state machinery avoided any confrontation with the Umma because of the DMK patronage to the mafia-like organisation. Its founder, Basha, a timber merchant and one-time TADA detenu, was a realtor.

A visit to Kottaimedu, however, establishes that it is no ghetto, with six entry and exit points and comprising three municipal wards. A busy residential-cum-business centre by the day, the area has a majority Muslim population. To the community, the now-banned Umma is a social organisation that helps inculcate Islamic values among the youth. It also protects Muslims from police "harassment".

So much so that, in December, 600 policemen had reportedly fanned out in Kottaimedu to arrest three Umma activists. The area Muslims insist that Hindus in the neighbourhood are living in peace ... Talking to the local Hindu ... suggests that the air is thick with distrust. However, the majority population claims that none of the three temples in the area sustains "as much as a scratch" in times of a riot.

However, the local Hindus differ. "Some of us are moving out of the area. Muslims here have so much money that they are buying our homes", said a local Hindu, claiming that the equation could be altered in Kottaimedu only if the DMK Government was voted out of power ...                                                                                                (Source: The Pioneer, 17 February, 1996)